Comments on: Independent 7527 by Anax

By: NealH

NealH — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 20:17:01 +0000

I looked at this at lunch and couldn’t get anywhere. Determined not to give up, I had another go in the evening and managed to finish it apart from 7 down, which completely lost me (and still seems a bit strange). Misreading the anagram at 20 as “a nicer lady r[ar]e” was the big problem for a long time. I got the Claire bit but was stumped on the surname. I didn’t know the name of the autobiography, so that really held me up in the top half. Nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable puzzle overall with some great clues.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:08:26 +0000

Think I also will be unlikely to be able to get to the London S&B, pity. Thanks for the blog, flashling, and Anax for the puzzle.

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:06:53 +0000

Gotcha Anax, very good, even if you’ve had to spoil things, didn’t spot that and looks like no one else did either, so OK there were 2 I didn’t get . 11ac is a fantastic clue, much admiration for that, I would say great imagery but that would be so wrong on many levels.

By: anax

anax — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:54:07 +0000

Hi there flashling

It’s pretty awful here too – any faint chance I had of getting to London was scuppered as of last night.
For 10a, the clue can be parsed as STIL(E)T TO. There, you see. I’ve gorn and spoiled the fun now.

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:40:46 +0000

Anax, suppose so as stiletto heels are pointed as well, but surely I have a point about the dagger too (as it were) for the DD even if wasn’t what you meant. 24ac fantastic misdirection, well done, never heard of the brand.

Weather causing mayhem here, doubt I’ll make S&B (London) as things stand.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:15:58 +0000

I too found this v difficult but got there in the end, Claire Rayner was the breakthrough, tho I had not heard of the book. Some v difficult clues, my favourite clues were MENCAP, RAGWORT, LASER with FAREWELL being a nice thematic touch.

By: anax

anax — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 13:37:04 +0000

Hi friends

I knew 24a was going to cause a few problems, for which I apologise. It’s an awful set of letters to play with!

Don’t want to spoil the fun too much, but 10a is &Lit, not DD.

By: scarpia

scarpia — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 13:20:36 +0000

Thanks flashling.
This was tough – but very satisfying.
Must admit to Googling the autobiography and not understanding the definition at 24 across(thanks sidey).
Thought it was something to do with soccer(which I am unlikely to know),so nice bit of misdirection from Anax.
5 down was my favourite.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:38:03 +0000

Thank you, flashling.

Chuffing Nora, as they say. I don’t want to humiliate myself in a public forum, but in the couple of years I have been attempting the Indy daily this is the fewest number of clues I’ve ever solved before throwing in the towel. Fingers of one hand doesn’t even come into it.

It’ll all be fair (this is the Indy) but to say this was beyond my ken would be an understatement. However, as I’ve said before, if there was a daily cryptic that I could solve every day then there’d be a lot of bored people out there. Or maybe I was just having an off day. In any case, as always thank you to the setter for the puzzle!

By: scchua

scchua — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 11:56:37 +0000

PS. Sorry Gaufrid, crossed with yours, but at least we’re of the same mind.